Method for controlling package delivery

Abstract

A method and system are provided in which information about a barcode on a package is received or more generally, information placed on a package by a delivery service (such as a barcode or other code) is detected. Characteristics of the information or code are extracted. The characteristics of the information or code are compared to characteristics of information or code associated with acceptable delivery services. If the characteristics of the code or information on the package correspond to characteristics of the information or code used by an acceptable delivery service, a locked area is unlocked to allow the package to be delivered. In other embodiments, other types of markings may be placed on the package by the delivery service, and the storage system may check whether those markings have, or information has, the characteristics of an acceptable delivery service.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, at a storage system, captured information, the captured information being information captured from a received package, the captured information including at least information associated with a delivery service related to an article for an intended recipient, the information associated with the delivery service including a code, the storage system including at least
 an information capture device that captures the captured information, 
 a processor system having at least one processor, 
 a memory system
 storing one or more sets of characteristic features for identifying the particular delivery service that issued the code, each set of characteristic features being characteristic features that are common to codes issued by a particular delivery service, 
 storing one or more machine instructions on one or more non-transitory computer readable media, 
 
 a controller for locking and unlocking a lock and a locked area having one or more locks; 
   comparing, by the storage system, the captured information to the one or more sets of characteristic features;   and   unlocking the locked area, by the storage system, based at least on results of the comparing of the captured information to the one or more sets of characteristic features, wherein access is granted without determining the intended recipient based on the code.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , receiving a message that indicates that the package was delivered at a particular time, and receiving the package after the particular time, the unlocking occurring as long as a time of arrival of the received package is within a predetermined window of time that is based on when the message indicates that the package was delivered and the window ending after the message indicates that the package was delivered. 
     
     
         3 . A system comprising:
 a storage system, including
 at least a processor system having at least one processor, 
 at least an information capture device that captures information from incoming packages, 
 a memory system storing one or more machine instructions on one or more non-transitory computer readable media, and 
 a controller; 
   when the one or more machine instructions are implemented by the storage system, the system implementing a method comprising:   receiving, at the storage system, captured information, the captured information being information captured from a received package, the captured information including at least a plurality of codes associated with delivery service information,   determining, by the storage system, based on the captured information, that the captured information includes the plurality of codes,   determining whether at least one code of the plurality of codes is associated with an accepted delivery service,   comparing, by the storage system, the captured information to one or more sets of characteristic features for identifying the particular delivery service that issued the code, each set of characteristic features being characteristic features that are common to codes issued by a particular delivery service,   determining whether the captured information is associated with the accepted delivery service based on the comparing, and   locking and unlocking, by the storage system, a locked area, the unlocking of the locked area being based on whether the captured information is associated with the accepted delivery service.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the information capture device is a barcode reader. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the information capture device is a camera, and the captured information is an image of at least part of the incoming package. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the captured information includes graphical markings associated with the delivery service. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 3 , the plurality of codes including a sequence of symbols, the method further comprising determining whether the sequence of symbols has one of one or more predetermined patterns, a predetermined pattern being a pattern determined by a delivery service prior to placing the pattern on the received package. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , the method further comprising if the sequence of symbols has one of the predetermined patterns, sending the at least one code to the accepted delivery service. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , the method further comprising:
 in response to sending the at least one code, receiving information about the received package from the accepted delivery service.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , the method further comprising:
 in response to receiving information about the received package from the accepted delivery service, determining a window for an acceptable delivery time, the window being an amount of time after the received package was sent that is based on how long it should have taken to deliver the received package; and   validating the received package based at least on whether the received package arrived during the window for the acceptable delivery time.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 3 , the method further comprising:
 determining a delivery window based at least on information received from a delivery service based on at least one code of the plurality of codes, the delivery window being an amount of time after the received package was sent that is based on how long it should have taken to deliver the received package, and access to a locked area is denied if the received package arrives outside of that delivery window.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 7 , the method further comprising:
 if at least one code of the plurality of codes has a pattern that matches at least one pattern of the one or more predetermined patterns, sending the at least one code to a delivery service that uses the pattern that matches.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 3 , the method further comprising:
 in response to receiving information associated with a received package associated with the at least one code of the plurality of codes,
 determining a window of time in which the received package should have arrived; and 
 accepting the received package only if the received package arrived during the window of time determined. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 3 , the method further comprising:
 determining a format of at least one of the plurality of codes, and   determining whether the format matches a format for a code of a supported delivery service, and   the unlocking of the locked area being based on whether the format matches.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one code is a barcode, and the barcode has a predetermined symbology, and the method further comprises determining whether the predetermined symbology is a symbology used by a supported delivery service, the predetermined symbology being determined prior to being placed on the received package. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , the method further comprising:
 determining one or more types of data in at least one code of the plurality of codes, and   determining whether the one or more types of data match types of data of a code of an accepted delivery service, and   the unlocking of the locked area being based on whether the match was found.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 3 , the method further comprising:
 determining data fields within the at least one code of the plurality of codes and the determining of whether the captured information is associated with the accepted delivery service includes determining whether the accepted delivery service uses a code having the data fields within the at least one code, and the unlocking of the locked area being based on whether the accepted delivery service uses the code having the data fields.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , the method further comprising:
 determining whether the data fields within the at least one code are in a sequence of data fields found in the code used by the acceptable delivery service, and the unlocking of the locked area being based on whether the accepted delivery service uses the at least one code having the sequence of data fields of the at least one code on the received package.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 3 , the method further comprising:
 determining whether information in at least one code of the plurality of codes is consistent with other information provided about the received package, and the unlocking being based on whether the information in the at least one code is consistent with the other information provided.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 3 , the method further comprising:
 determining that the plurality of codes includes at least a first code of a first carrier and at least a second code of a second carrier, the first carrier being different than the second carrier; and   determining whether a valid reason exists for the received package having the plurality of codes;   if the valid reason is found, unlocking the locked area; and   if the valid reason is not found, keeping the locked area locked.   
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 3 ,
 wherein a determination of whether the captured information is associated with the accepted delivery service is based at least on results of the comparing of the captured information to the one or more sets of characteristic features, and   wherein access is granted without determining an intended recipient based on the code.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 3 ,
 the one or more instructions, when implemented, causes the processor system to recognize data in information captured by the information capture device capturing the information from the packages of intended recipients;   the method further comprising:   locking and unlocking, by the storage system, a locked area, the unlocking of the locked area being based on whether the captured information is associated with the accepted delivery service;   wherein the intended recipients include registered and unregistered users; and   wherein the system allows packages of unregistered users to be placed within one or more storage areas of the storage system.   
     
     
         23 . A method comprising:
 capturing, by an information capture device, information from packages of intended recipients;   recognizing, by a processor system, data in information captured by the information capture device capturing the information from the packages of the intended recipients, the processor system including one or more processors;   and   securing, by a controller, a locked area of one or more storage areas, by locking and unlocking, by the controller, based at least on comparing characteristics of the information captured from the packages of the intended recipients to stored characteristics, the stored characteristics being characteristics features common to codes of an accepted delivery service that are stored for identifying delivery services;   wherein the intended recipients include registered and unregistered users; and   wherein the system allows packages of unregistered users to be placed within the one or more storage areas.